Unless you're in the Central with Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Nashville, St Louis and Winnipeg. There are two good/great teams (Chicago, St Louis) and then... Nashville is questionable. Minnesota is Minnesota. Colorado, Dallas, and Winnipeg are awful. One non-playoff team from last year is going to get the 3rd spot from that division.

Winnipeg could make a push, though they haven't made any impactful acquisitions this summer that will give them a sure fire chance to make the playoffs. They need a healthy roster for 82 games as well, and their scoring can't be complete shit when it comes to consistency.

Congrats to the 11 fools who made the ignore list, your ignorance knows no bounds, bravo!

Was reading a terrible article about expansion into Europe, but it did remind me that I'd still like to see the European leagues and KHL have a playoff amongst their league winners, and then the winner of that end up playing the Stanley Cup champions. It might be kind of lame, and I don't really know if any of those teams can compete with the upper tier KHL teams (and whether they can even compete with NHL champions), but it's always something of a curiosity to me. Guess I'll settle for the Olympics and hopefully another World Cup sometime soon (when teams can field full rosters, not just guys on teams playing early golf).

I think without question they would be able to compete, in hockey there has to be a pretty huge disparity in skill for a team to be uncompetitive. And if you look at the 2010 Olympic rosters for countries like Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc. they are roughly half filled with KHL players. Realistically it would probably have to be a KHL All-Star team to match the depth of great NHL team, and if they did that unless they are playing the Penguins imo the KHL team would have the best forward on the ice (kovy).

Pretty sure the Hawks would still destroy a full KHL all-star team. If Radulov and Cervenka were considered elite or at least top end by KHL standards, then it's not that impressive. Granted, the transition from the big ice to the North American game was rough for Cervenka at least but it still just wasn't there. Our current projected starting goaltender, Kari Ramo had really good numbers there too, so we'll see how one of the best KHL goalies does in the NHL this year. Obviously he's not going to be the deciding factor in telling of KHL goalies are any good but it'll give a good indication at least. They might have one of the best forwards in the world but outside of Kovalchuk I'm not impressed by KHL talent at all. I doubt they'd do a game vs the NHL because it would just showcase how much better the NHL is, even though we all should know.

Pretty sure the Hawks would still destroy a full KHL all-star team. If Radulov and Cervenka were considered elite or at least top end by KHL standards, then it's not that impressive. Granted, the transition from the big ice to the North American game was rough for Cervenka at least but it still just wasn't there. Our current projected starting goaltender, Kari Ramo had really good numbers there too, so we'll see how one of the best KHL goalies does in the NHL this year. Obviously he's not going to be the deciding factor in telling of KHL goalies are any good but it'll give a good indication at least. They might have one of the best forwards in the world but outside of Kovalchuk I'm not impressed by KHL talent at all. I doubt they'd do a game vs the NHL because it would just showcase how much better the NHL is, even though we all should know.

You're probably right. Personally, I think the talent disparity between the Hawks and the Avalanche is HUGE, and the Avs were still the team to end the streak at the beginning of the year, winning in a blowout 6-2. Is the worst team in the NHL insanely better than a KHL All-Star team? I just think they (KHL All-stars) could be competitive (meaning not 10-0) because the talent disparity really has to be enormous for a team to be unable to compete.

The Predators are making it so you can't buy single game tickets for the home games against the Hawks. You HAVE to buy an additional ticket for another game if you want to go to that game (or a season ticket holder/15 game plan holder).

What about all the Nashville fans who want to see one of the best teams, not necessarily another game as well? I'll be interested to see the attendance for those games. I suppose you will still be able to buy tickets on stubhub but if people are smart they will jack the prices way up.

The Predators are making it so you can't buy single game tickets for the home games against the Hawks. You HAVE to buy an additional ticket for another game if you want to go to that game (or a season ticket holder/15 game plan holder).

What about all the Nashville fans who want to see one of the best teams, not necessarily another game as well? I'll be interested to see the attendance for those games. I suppose you will still be able to buy tickets on stubhub but if people are smart they will jack the prices way up.

Nothing like stupid PR moves that do nothing more than damage local businesses who see an increase in business at hotels, restaurants, and bars when those out of towners swarm them and Preds fans who want to buy tickets to see a division rival. Stupid move all around that does absolutely nothing beneficial on the ice. So dumb.

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I do not like the new Sharks jerseys. I do not like the removal of the horizontal stripes on the bottom at all and they look pretty awful without the shoulder caps but with the logo still in place.

The shoulders and waist stripes were removed to reduce weight of the jersey. LOL

Zeoni: I hate to say this but Kari Ramo is one of the worst goalies to ever play in the NHL and he could never even maintain a backup job. All I can say is that I hope you enjoy seeing the Flames get slaughtered for the next few years until you get a good goalie.

Congrats to the 11 fools who made the ignore list, your ignorance knows no bounds, bravo!

Zeoni: I hate to say this but Kari Ramo is one of the worst goalies to ever play in the NHL and he could never even maintain a backup job. All I can say is that I hope you enjoy seeing the Flames get slaughtered for the next few years until you get a good goalie.

Trust me, I know all about Ramo + the big picture scene for here in net. I was just mentioning him since he is one of the best goaltenders from the KHL, so we'll get to see first hand what a sub 2.0 GAA in the KHL is like here in the NHL. And I mean, having a bad goalie for 2 years woulden't be the worst thing in the world when you're in rebuild mode. Especially when we know what happens at the 2015 draft. Worst case scenario, he sucks dick and the KHL really is terrible and we just get to try out other guys.

Zeoni: I hate to say this but Kari Ramo is one of the worst goalies to ever play in the NHL and he could never even maintain a backup job. All I can say is that I hope you enjoy seeing the Flames get slaughtered for the next few years until you get a good goalie.

Wait, wait wait. I think I missed something. Is the Flames goalie competition between Joey McDonald, former Red Wing who was fairly awful, and Karri Ramo, former Lightning who was completely terrible? Imma need some popcorn for that shitshow. Really Calgary? You couldn't find anyone better

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Originally Posted by Zeoni

Trust me, I know all about Ramo + the big picture scene for here in net. I was just mentioning him since he is one of the best goaltenders from the KHL, so we'll get to see first hand what a sub 2.0 GAA in the KHL is like here in the NHL.